I'm interested in this topic as well. I have found less enjoyment out of deal-making than with helping portfolio companies.

As to your list:

  • #1, #2, and #3 are all different phrasings of the same responsibility of value creation operations (sounds like more operations than strategy)
  • #4 (valuation) sounds crummy - that should be the role of an internal valuations person
  • #5 not sure what this means, would have thought "liquidity events" includes capital markets work (refi / recap) and normal course exit preparation (pretty bread and butter Associate work that can range from painful to easy depending on third party support)
  • #6 see above, and not sure what you would be doing on refi / recap events since I would assume they are not hiring you to wear a capital markets hat (might be worth clarifying). Board reporting is a real chore / bore.
  • #7 doesn't really mean anything except don't get caught lacking

Sounds like a fairly interesting role. I would want to clarify some of the points I made above.

 
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I would diligence the number of partners/MDs that came from investing vs operating paths. This would give you a better sense of what the firm values.
 

Generally, it is always easier to invest in businesses that can take advantage of high growth markets that influence EV/EBITDA multiple uplift at exit and require just enough M&A to convince the next buyer there is white space/competitors to enter/acquire. This type of investment focus only needs operators to capture incremental upside vs step changes in value and will thus discount an operator’s value vs the investment professional. 
 

On the other hand, if the firm invests in businesses that might have a less clear path for revenue growth or cost reduction, the firm will likely place more value on in-house operating professionals to help with strategy or tactical improvement projects. This obviously takes more work over the investment period but can result in a large EBITDA or multiple uplift to capture an outsized return. 
 

These situations are obviously black and white and there are many shades of gray in the middle. 

 

To be completely clear, would this role sit within the PE fund or within a portco? There are both black&white/opaque pros and cons which would come with either scenario but it's important for me to understand before I opine

 

Unless you are joining a strong house branded for its operating partner expertise (like GIP), its hard to move back to an IP role. Since your main goal is IP eventually, I wouldn’t be too keen about anchoring this path as the breaking point.

Even then, you are being compared and benchmarked with consultants and people with corporate experience in this field, which candidly speaking do have more edge than IBD folks.

Remember, as IBD guy, you are best at equity story, modeling, and capital management - rather than coming in with the 100 operational KPIs and super meticulous operational improvement programs with fancy acronyms that no1 remembers.

 

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